He stroked the black cloth over her eyes, his long fingers slipping into her soft hair, forcing her to tilt her head back so she could not avoid him.

The red candles burned through the night, exhausted only at dawn.

When she woke, she found her voice hoarse beyond recognition, her whole body weak.

The Spring Chill Gu had been temporarily suppressed, and the scorching pain had disappeared, replaced by another kind of pain too difficult to speak of.

Moreover… her body was covered in marks, and from her lower back to her thighs the pain was especially severe. She lowered her head, her ink-black hair cascading down like flowing water. Sure enough, on her snow-white skin, she faintly felt a dark bite mark that had bled through, surrounded by marks of varying depths branded into her skin, utterly miserable.

She wanted to remove the obstruction over her eyes, but he stopped her.

He thought that when she woke, she would regret it, would hate him, would despise him.

After how excessive he had been last night, she must want nothing more than to tear him to pieces.

But she only took a deep breath and said faintly, “Yan Xueyi, are you a dog?”

She removed the black cloth as she spoke. There was no disgust or hatred in her eyes—like the mist of a spring day in March, quiet and tender.

He stared at her for a moment, then suddenly pulled her back into his arms. His breath fell scorching hot against her skin, sending shivers rippling through her.

He bit down again, viciously, on the same place as that bite mark.

His canine teeth sank into her waist, the tip of his tongue circling that small patch of skin, while those beautiful yet eerie danfeng¹Danfeng: A type of eye shape in Chinese aesthetics—long and slightly upturned at the outer corners, sharp and elegant, often described as phoenix-like and associated with beauty and intensity. eyes lifted beneath thick lashes, watching her with focus and danger.

As if he wanted nothing more than to tear her apart and devour her—brutal and vicious.

She hissed and pushed at the demonic horns on his head.

Only after quite a while did the handsome demon lord lazily release his bite.

His firm physique was covered in ferocious scars. His tall frame was like a sleek, flowing cheetah in the night, brimming with astonishing explosive power.

He narrowed those beautiful danfeng eyes and gazed leisurely at her back.

She wanted to find something to wear. After searching for a long time, the demon lord said smugly, “Look down.”

She looked—and found several shredded strips of cloth lying on the ground.

Chao Jinsui: …

He was exactly like a vicious dog that wreaked destruction everywhere. The infuriating aspects of his temperament—she had already experienced them deeply last night.

The cold and aloof sword cultivator took out another set of clothes from her storage ring and changed, then turned to look at the demon lord. “Once every three months. Wait for me to find you.”

The Spring Chill Gu flared once every three months. Until it was completely resolved, every three months, she had to find him.

The moment these words were spoken, the faint, ambiguous atmosphere immediately vanished.

The demon lord’s face darkened.

His gaze turned cold again, and that lazy air disappeared.

Those kisses and intimacies from yesterday seemed, in her casual words, to have turned into drifting clouds and smoke.

Cold anger and the humiliation of being toyed with surged up together.

An invisible pressure suddenly poured outward. The half-opened door she had just pushed open slammed shut with a bang.

A black barrier appeared, forming into an enormous cage.

The young man held a smile at the corner of his lips. Tall and slender, he carried an indescribable sense of pressure. Those sinister yet beautiful danfeng eyes looked at her,

“This place… is the Demon Realm.”

A light, drifting sentence, even tinged with a smile.

Yet filled with killing intent.

Even at the peak of her former strength, Chao Jinsui would never have been arrogant enough to believe she could come and go freely within the Demon Realm—

Especially under the watchful eye of the ruler of the Demon Realm.

This was the Demon Realm. Without his nod, she would not leave alive.

Just a moment ago, they had been whispering by each other’s ears, breaths entwined, doing the most intimate things;

Once off the bed, it seemed they would return to how they had been at the beginning—locked in opposition, killing intent flying in all directions.

Her figure indeed paused.

She hesitated for a moment and took out her sword.

But this time, she did not draw it.

She only stroked her sword with care.

It had accompanied her for many years. In her previous life, it had been destroyed by this demon.

In her previous life, this sword had pierced through his body without hesitation, turning him into countless fragments—while it too shattered inch by inch.

This sword was called Fumo, the bane of demons in heaven and earth. If an ordinary demon were even grazed by it, the pain would be like being scorched by fire.

A sword cultivator’s sword was like another part of her life.

But after awakening from a great dream, she suddenly realized that she and the Fumo Sword no longer shared that resonance from the depths of the soul.

She gazed at it fondly for a long time, then turned and walked toward him.

The young man smiled faintly, his tone cold and sinister. “What? Regretting it?”

Though he was smiling, the violent killing aura around him could not be concealed. The way he looked at her was as if she were already a corpse.

But she suddenly lowered her head and placed a kiss, light as a dragonfly touching water, upon the cheek of the ferocious beast on the verge of fury.

His fingertips trembled.

He suddenly seized her wrist, his grip so strong it seemed he might break it.

She lingered lightly against his cheek for a moment longer, then placed the Fumo Sword at his side.

✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦

A long time later, Moye, the demon general guarding the city, sensed the Demon Lord’s presence and hurried to the inn.

But trembling with fear, he did not dare enter.

Inside, the Demon Lord’s expression shifted between light and dark, as if lost in thought.

It was the Jiao that had hung at the doorway all night that crawled over and reminded the Demon Lord, “Master, she has left.”

He came back to his senses. “Who?”

Demon General Moye said cautiously, “Th-that… the Young Sect Master of the Kunlun Sword Sect.”

Demon General Moye: “Your Excellency, shall we capture her and bring her back?”

The demon lord: …

The beautiful black-haired young man propped his forehead, expressionless, his gaze distant as his thoughts drifted.

The Fumo Sword—of course he knew it well.

She had never let it leave her side.

It had once left scars three cun beneath the left side of his heart, and at the first rib on the right.

He remembered every trace of pain she had given him, swearing to repay it a thousandfold.

But now, she had given him the Fumo Sword.

—Was it truly a “gift”? He hesitated again.

Had she not sworn to slay all evil demons under heaven? How could a sword cultivator who cherished her sword as her life give it away?

And to the demon she had always wished to kill above all else.

The tactless subordinate was still chattering in his ear.

Demon lord: “She’s already run far away. Can’t catch her anyway. Next time.”

Moye: ?

Demon General Moye: “Um… you… you can shrink the earth to an inch, can’t you?”

The demon lord paused. “You’re right.”

He said slowly, “I will capture her, tear her into pieces, and feed her to the snakes.”

Jiao: ???

What a familiar empty promise!

With that, the Demon Lord turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished.

✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦

Before she woke, the system had formed a Heaven-and-Earth contract with her. However, due to insufficient energy, it did not recover until a full day later.

The system thought it had missed a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity and hurriedly awakened in a panic. It assumed the host had already missed the best chance but when it looked…

System: pupils shaking!

It had thought the host was an emotional idiot, but discovered she was an utterly ordinary little genius at romance.

She had even given away her sword!

Chao Jinsui was flying toward the cave from yesterday when she heard the system’s voice, extremely excited.

It rambled on for quite a while. Chao Jinsui paused, finally understanding.

The system wanted to prevent the destruction of the world and could only start with the Demon God.

—Although she did not understand what inevitable connection there was between preventing the destruction of the world and sleeping with him.

The system explained, “It’s to reform him—we need to reform him.”

In truth, it meant preventing the possibility of him becoming further corrupted.

She let out a good-natured laugh. Though she said nothing, the system immediately felt like it was being mocked.

She said softly, “You know he’s a demon, right?”

There are three kinds of demons in this world—

One is the mixed blood of demons and humans; another is cultivators who fall into deviation and willingly descend into corruption; the last kind are those born with demonic nature.

By sheer coincidence, Yan Xueyi was the last kind. He was even the reincarnation of the Demon God.

He was born lacking empathy. What flowed in his blood was slaughter and killing. The first time he killed someone, he did not even blink; he also lacked a sense of pain and found it extremely difficult to understand the suffering of others.

He did not need to become corrupted—because from beginning to end, he was already thoroughly blackened.

In the end, once the Demon God returned to his place, the flaws in his nature would only be infinitely magnified, bringing endless warfare to the human world.

The system agreed very much. “Yes, so no one else will work—only you can.”

Chao Jinsui: …

She stayed silent for a long time. The system thought she was about to refuse outright.

But she spoke again. “Actually, I’ve tried.”

She said, “In my previous life, I always wanted to capture him and lock him up.”

The system instantly grew excited, imagining ten thousand words’ worth of dark-room scenarios.

She looked regretful. “Then recite the Qingxin Sutra to him tens of thousands of times.”

The result, of course, was failure.

In their previous life, reconciliation between them had almost been impossible.

The system fell silent. Then it said, “Host, why don’t you try a different approach?”

“For example, sleep with him tens of thousands of times.”

Chao Jinsui was quiet for a moment, then told it, “When he kills me, I can expose you first as an offering.”

System: …

After a long while, Chao Jinsui spoke again. “I need to return to Kunlun first.”

The system knew what the host intended to do, but it did not stop her.

Moreover, there was something very important in Kunlun.

However, the system gave one final reminder. “Host, you know the male protagonist is the great bearer of destiny in this world, right?”

It said quietly, “Killing him won’t be that simple.”

Her steps paused for a moment, then she continued walking toward that cave.

Sure enough, in the middle of a crack between the rocks, she found the bottle of blood-replenishing pills. In her previous life, she had fallen into a three-month coma. By the time she woke, this place had been spotless—there was no evidence left to convict Su Liuyun.

She sniffed it. There were still a few pills inside, all of them Spring Chill Gu.

A day ago, she had believed Su Liuyun truly cared about her—after all, among so many people, only he had noticed the blood on her hand.

After all, bound by fellowship of the same sect, she believed she had never wronged anyone in Kunlun, and had never guarded herself against “her own people.”

Only, she had been blind in both eyes and heart, unable to see through the vicious scheme hidden behind that concern.

She put the items away, suppressing the emotions surging within her.

When she noticed someone following behind her, she merely paused her steps.

The bite mark at her waist seemed to throb faintly.

If it had been before, she would have turned around to question that demon. But now, she did not want to do so.

Even without the system, she had already given him the Fumo Sword.

In her previous life, she had been without shame before heaven and earth, without shame before Kunlun—perhaps, however, she had wronged one person.

She thought, if he wanted to follow, then let him follow.

Pretending not to notice, she walked toward the Kunlun Sword Sect.

She saw that familiar city among the clouds.

Amid drifting mist, Kunshan lay distant and indistinct.

Like a celestial palace from legend—except a towering giant sword pierced straight into the firmament, instantly cleaving apart that ethereal immortal aura, as though carrying a vast and solemn killing intent that rivaled the height of the heavens.

—That was Kunlun.

Her former home, the place where her bones were buried.

✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦

Yan Xueyi did not follow. He only fell silent for a moment, then patted the Jiao beside him.

He said, “Watch her.”

The Jiao raised its upper body, finding this command deeply confusing.

Not eating her was one thing, but now it had to watch her wander right before its eyes?

But given that the ruler of the Demon Realm never reasoned and was always willfully unreasonable, he lowered his head and fixed the serpent with a deathly glare. The Jiao obediently shrank down and darted away.

He watched her walk toward the Kunlun Sword Sect—

Countless disciples in white gathered around her, like stars surrounding the moon.

He had originally wanted to ask clearly about the Fumo Sword, but now, he did not want to ask anymore.

She was a righteous cultivator of boundless promise—stunningly talented, and even more rare, kind and gentle, pure and untouched by dust, like the bright, clear moon in the heavens. She would become the undisputed Sect Master of the Kunlun Sword Sect, walking a broad and prosperous path.

He mocked her as a saint who saved the suffering but deep in his heart, he also knew—

A vile demon who had crawled out of the Myriad Demon Pit, filthy and venomous, with blood covering both hands, was unworthy of having anything to do with her.

Even a touch would stain the hem of her spotless white skirt.

To draw any closer would only drag her into the boundless abyss, destroying her radiant life.

Those dark eyes burning with black ghostly flames returned once more to lifeless stillness.

The young man turned and left.

Footnotes

• 1
  Danfeng: A type of eye shape in Chinese aesthetics—long and slightly upturned at the outer corners, sharp and elegant, often described as phoenix-like and associated with beauty and intensity.